afternoon; and the rain lasted
until the dinner-bell sounded, coming down in regular sheets of water,
as if emptied out suddenly from some enormous reservoir above.

All sorts of tubs, buckets, kegs, and open casks, including the scuttle
butt, were ranged along the spar-deck, below the break of the poop, to
catch the welcome shower, tarpaulins being spread over the open
hatchways, where exposed, to prevent the flood from going below: while
the ends of the after awning were tied up in a sort of huge bag for the
rain to drain off into it, so that none of it might be wasted--the
canvas being let down, when the receptacle was pretty full, to empty the
contents into the water-puncheons--for the pure liquid was a precious
godsend, being an agreeable relief to the brackish supply which the ship
carried in her tanks.

As might have been imagined, Master Negus and Miss Florry watched all
these operations with the greatest interest, for they would have been
only too glad if their respective guardians had allowed them to take a
more active part in the watery campaign than that of merely looking on.

Mr Zachariah Lathrope, however, was his own master, and he made himself
very busy amongst the dripping sailors, who were hopping about on the
wet decks as if enjoying their ducking, much amusement being caused when
Mr McCarthy, for a joke, let the leach of the awning once go by the
run, when, the American passenger being off his guard, some hundred
gallons of water came down on him, giving the worthy gentleman an
impromptu shower-bath.

It was grand fun while the rain lasted, all the men folk paddling about
in it to their hearts' content and ducking each other when they had the
chance; while the ladies observed the sports from the shelter of the
poop, seeming to take equally as much pleasure in the skylarking. It
was amazing, too, to notice the amount of dirt and rubbish which the
downpour washed away into the scuppers. What with the continual
swilling and scrubbing and swabbing that the decks underwent every
morning, it ought to have been an impossibility for any dust or debris
to exist; but, there it was, to prove the contrary--the rain "exposing
the weakness of the land," and making a clean sweep of everything that
was dirty which lay about in the odd corners fore and aft the ship.

The day after the rain, just when all on board--sick of the calm, the
listless monotonous roll of the ship, the flapping of the idle sails
again